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The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

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Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#21

Post by sk0g »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #19
CydeWeys wrote: post #2

How many millions of people are posting on Instagram? How many billions of photos are on Instagram now? Is it really so crazy to think that all of those billions of photos, you can find groupings of 12 that are similarly composed? How many unique photos are there to take really? I'd be way more impressed if you could somehow come up with a set of a billion photos such that there are no compositional groupings across…

I read one bit of utopian fiction where the propagation of digital production was limited to a nearby social circle. That way, people weren't constantly comparing their photographs with the best photographer in the world, or their musical compositions with the best musician in the world. People would specialize and create things, but for the benefit of their social circle, not the entire world. I wonder if something…

Sounds like Google+! I love the idea, I can be the dedicated (dark) bard for my group of friends. The realities of the situation are probably vastly different, but hey, I need hope.

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#22

Post by casefields »

theoh wrote: post #5

Trust HN commenters to call into question the (perfectly reasonable) premise of the article. The fact that Instagram is visual, not drably textual like HN, shouldn't really prevent anyone from discerning the fact that there's a significant amount of imitation, cliché, and trendy conformity in the images people post.

We do that here too. Think of when people bring up the phrase "if it's free then you are the product." The first few times it's seen by people, they think that's a great way to describe what they're seeing, and it spreads like wildfire. Now it's to the point I groan when I inevitably see it during a discussion.

This is really just the propagation of ideas which have sex: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/ideas-having-sex-matt-ridley...

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#23

Post by tempodox »

Shouldn't that be self-evident? Humans have a lot in common and so do the things they find attractive or memorable. Even if someone attempted to be the world champion of uniqueness, in a population as large as Instagram users that would be hard to accomplish.

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#25

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

coralreef wrote: post #18

This has less to do with Instagram and more to the fact that all art is derived from other art.

It has more to do with the fact that most humans are social and cultural mimics, and genuine creativity is rare - and not always welcome when it appears.

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#26

Post by notahacker »

natecavanaugh wrote: post #13

Isn't this akin to complaining if people for access to tools for drawing, that there would be a lot of fruit bowls out there? The fact is, cameras on cell phones have brought artistic tools to an incredibly large set of people, and of course there is to be expected alot of mimicry. But lots of originality can come through. Browse through Dribbble sometimes. There can be plenty of creativity in remixes and covers of o…

I imagine if someone built Instagram for ancient Greek art and analysed it they could rediscover things like the Golden Ratio. And those Doric columns... all the same.

And with photography much of it isn't mimicry per se so much as the fact that humans find a lot of similar things interesting even if they pay no attention to other people's artwork at all. Even if entirely uninterested in other people's travel shots, people often find the rowing boat trip they took with their partner interesting enough to record a picture of their partner taken from said rowing boat, and so we end up with a lot of shots of partners sitting in the prow which can't really not be compositionally similar to other shots of other partners sitting in other boats on other rivers.

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#27

Post by classic959 »

djohnston wrote: post #17
bigDICK wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take photos to remember something then you can have a lot of unique photos. While everyone else is chasing the perfect photo you'll have something that is actually true to the memory.

i am like this too. i have lots and lots of janky photos that aren't insta-worthy but fulfill their core purpose as little time machines

Wow, this comment just got me thinking. If I've got good at taking well composed photos, according to common photography techniques, might they have less of that time-machine, memory-jogging quality? I'd like to have both - maybe I need two sets for photos!

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#28

Post by kkarakk »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #19
CydeWeys wrote: post #2

How many millions of people are posting on Instagram? How many billions of photos are on Instagram now? Is it really so crazy to think that all of those billions of photos, you can find groupings of 12 that are similarly composed? How many unique photos are there to take really? I'd be way more impressed if you could somehow come up with a set of a billion photos such that there are no compositional groupings across…

I read one bit of utopian fiction where the propagation of digital production was limited to a nearby social circle. That way, people weren't constantly comparing their photographs with the best photographer in the world, or their musical compositions with the best musician in the world. People would specialize and create things, but for the benefit of their social circle, not the entire world. I wonder if something…

i don't think comparing your photo with the best photographer in the world is necessarily a bad thing, it shows you what you haven't learnt yet and how composition/lighting changes things.

if you translate that into FOMO somehow i think that's on your broken code/way of living rather than anything else.

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#29

Post by kaffeemitsahne »

goshx wrote: post #11
theoh wrote: post #5

Trust HN commenters to call into question the (perfectly reasonable) premise of the article. The fact that Instagram is visual, not drably textual like HN, shouldn't really prevent anyone from discerning the fact that there's a significant amount of imitation, cliché, and trendy conformity in the images people post.

In an attempt to appear unique, everyone ends up doing the same thing. Instagram is just a reflection of what society does in real life. This is visible in fashion, hair styles, beard, and whatever is the trend now. I personally don’t understand why so many people have this need to look like their peers. Does anyone with more social skills have an explanation?

> In an attempt to appear unique, everyone ends up doing the same thing.

Time and again it is said about people subscribing to various subcultures or styles: "they think they are unique but they all are the same!" However I have never once heard or seen anyone in any such group actually claim to be unique.

Re: The Homogeneity of Instagram Travel Photos

#30

Post by agent008t »

adventured wrote: post #12
Sophistifunk wrote: post #6

How is this alarming? Who gives a toss if people who want to be "influencers" are all doing the same thing? Frankly it makes it easier for the humans to ignore them.

The author is struggling with the fact that humans are overwhelmingly a mimicry bunch. Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with it, it's the only way there can be billions of people. The automation & cloning process when it comes to personality, choices, behavior, likes, dislikes, etc. saves an incredible amount of time at scale. 30 minutes spent reading comments on Reddit or Imgur for example reveals tha…

Interesting. Kind of like how the evolution of our DNA works - we are fundamentally just imperfect replicators, introducing random mutations to the information. Ones that are deemed beneficial are propagated further, others are ostracized.
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